ICC president David Morgan vowed that international cricket, while rocked by the attacks, would continue but said the security surrounding top-class cricket globally would change forever.

"On many occasions we have been told that cricketers would not be targeted in Pakistan. This morning's events have proved that to be incorrect.

"But cricket must go on, it will go on," the Briton said.

New Zealand's Vaughan said it was too early to talk about moving the 2011 World Cup from the four South Asian countries, which all have security problems.

"You can't say cricket won't take place in Asia. It would kill the game because four of the eight countries we play serious cricket against are based out of there.

"You can't just say it's a no-go zone -- I think we need to think pretty carefully," he said.

"Player security is something we won't compromise on, but in terms of how and when events are scheduled in that region, I guess we got to think pretty long and hard."

News of the Lahore attack broke Tuesday during a one-day international between New Zealand and India in Napier. After the innings break, both teams wore black armbands.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the attack was a "despicable terrorist act."

"I am very concerned at this turn of events, where an international sports team has been targeted by terrorists," Key said.

New Zealand have cancelled their tour of Pakistan after the deadly attack against Sri Lanka's team, New Zealand's top cricket official said on Wednesday amid increasing doubts over the future of international cricket in the troubled Asian country.

"We're not going and I think that's pretty clear. I don't think any international team will be going to Pakistan in the foreseeable future," New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan told Radio New Zealand.

"Now we've seen that cricket can be a target, and I think it creates a whole new set of issues and raises the security issue to a whole new level," he added.

The move came as the International Cricket Council (ICC) cast doubt on Pakistan's hopes of remaining a co-host of the 2011 World Cup.

New Zealand called off the tour scheduled to start in November after militants armed with grenades and guns ambushed Sri Lanka's players in Lahore Tuesday.

Eight people died and seven Sri Lankan players were among 19 wounded in the attack, which forced the tour to be abandoned and cast doubt over international cricket in Pakistan.

the attack New Zealand officials are expected to meet their Pakistani counterparts in international meetings in April or June, where they are likely to discuss moving the tour to a neutral venue.

"I think the options will probably revolve around playing them at a neutral venue. They have played previous games in the Gulf states, in Abu Dhabi," Vaughan said.

The New Zealand cricket team cut short their 2002 tour to Pakistan after a suicide bomber blew up a bus outside the team's hotel in Karachi, killing at least 12 people.

ICC officials have cast doubt over Pakistan continuing as co-host of the 2011 World Cup.

"It's difficult to... see international cricket being played in Pakistan for the foreseeable future," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told a news conference in London.

The World Cup is due to be co-hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

"We need to guard against a knee-jerk reaction. The World Cup is two years away," the South African told reporters, before adding: "It will be very challenging for us to be convinced that Pakistan is a safe venue."

Sri Lanka's spin bowler Ajantha Mendis was released from hospital on Monday, two weeks after the squad was attacked by unidentified gunmen in Pakistan, his manager Roshan Abeysinghe said.
Mendis, who had shrapnel extracted from his head and back, said he was delighted to go home.

Two Sri Lankan cricket players remain hospitalised in Colombo, two weeks after the squad was attacked by militant gunmen in Pakistan, the team's doctor said Monday.
Thilan Samaraweera, who had a bullet removed from his left thigh, and Ajantha Mendis, who had shrapnel extracted from his head and back, are being treated at a private hospital, Geethanjana Mendis said.

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan believes a "foreign element" could be involved in this week's attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, according to an interview published Saturday.
"It could be India, Afghanistan, the Tamil Tigers," Khan was quoted as saying in an interview published online by The Times of London.

ICC president David Morgan admitted that the level of security was "not as expected" during the Lahore attacks on March 3.
Morgan, while speaking to the BBC revealed that before the series had started, all the steps had been taken to ensure that the security levels were up to the mark and it seems that everyone was satisfied.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An investigation into the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore has found signs that Pakistani militants with possible ties to al Qaeda were responsible, a senior government official said on Saturday.
The brazen attack by a dozen gunmen on the team and its police escorts as they drove to the main stadium in Lahore on Tuesday raised new fears about prospects for a nuclear-armed country that some analysts fear could become a failed state.